Privacy, Affiliate Links, Cookies: This site uses cookies, including to identify the country you are visiting from and to measure traffic to third-party sites.

I invest a lot of time and money into running this site, and I use affiliate links to help get a little of this money back. If you click on an affiliate link and purchase anything, I will receive a small commission. These affiliate providers use cookies to understand the referrals I've made and whether an ad was shown. These cookies do not reveal your identity, web use, or other behaviour.

By continuing to use this site, you agree to the use of cookies. To learn more about what cookies are stored and how they're used, you can find my Privacy Policy here:
Privacy Policy

I’m a traveller. It wasn’t a conscious decision for me at first, since I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter when my family up and moved to China in 1997, when I was only 6. Since then, I’ve seen many different places, been skiing down snowy hills and rolling down sand dunes. (Fun story: the torch/flashlight the boyfriend gave me for Christmas several years ago was so powerful it attracted the Moroccan military on New Year’s Eve when we were camping out in the desert.)

Travelling is a big part of Richard Farr’s series, The Babel Trilogy, so I wanted to dig deeper into the places that he’s been to, and what he still hopes to see. He didn’t disappoint! Check out what he had to say below, then read more about the first two books in the series and – if you’re in the US or Canada – enter the giveaway at the bottom!

Richard Farr on the most incredible places he’s been, and where he hopes to go next

I love cities that have dense layers of history and civilization, so London, Paris, Venice, Istanbul, Delhi, Kyoto, Barcelona, and Beijing are all high on my Favorites list, along with many others like them. But I think it’s the opposite experience that speaks to me most. The very emptiest places are where I waste my time when wanderlust tempts me onto on Google Earth—especially deserts. (People often say “Less is more.” I think someone first had that idea in a desert.) So I’m sorry that, although I’ve set foot “virtually” in all of them, I’ve never yet really visited the Gibson desert in Australia, the Kalahari or Namib in South Africa, the Taklamakan in central Asia, or the Atacama in South America. Top of that list has to be the biggest of all, of course, the Sahara: one day I will cross it, from Morocco to Ouagadougou, with maybe a long side-trip the mysterious, remote Ahaggar Mountains.

I did once cross the desert of southern Iran, and on into western Pakistan. (I was in a truck, I admit, not on a camel). It was July, the temperature was around 125 degrees Fahrenheit, and I was sick with a fever. Maybe that’s why there was something so surreal, so dream-like, so wonderful, about staggering out for a pee break one day—we were somewhere east of the city of Bam, I think, but the middle of nowhere, anyway—and feeling for a moment (as I recall the great Norwegian explorer Borge Ousland saying about Antarctica) that I was standing alone on the surface of another planet. Funnily enough, five miles down the road after that break, we came across a group of heavily bearded Pakistani truck drivers, sweating to free two trucks that were stuck in a muddy wallow—the only water we’d seen all day. They were headed for the Pakistan border, like us. We helped them pull their trucks out, and had a good laugh with them about it. They were incredibly cheerful, friendly, and grateful for our help. Their human warmth was like a little flower of civilization blooming out of the sand.

About The Fire Seekers

Published by: Skyscape

Publication date: November 1st 2014

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction

The time of our immortality is at hand.

An undeciphered language in Crete. A rash of mysterious disappearances, from Bolivia to Japan. An ancient warning at the ruins of Babel. And a new spiritual leader, who claims that human history as we understand it is about to come to an end.

Seventeen-year-old Daniel Calder’s world falls apart when a freak accident brings personal tragedy—and he discovers there’s a link between the accident and a wildly successful new cult, the Seraphim. Catapulted into a violent struggle for humanity’s past and future, he’s not even sure who the enemy is, or if he’s battling a phantom that doesn’t exist. But as Daniel puts his life on the line, he is forced to conclude that our very survival as a species will depend on who, and what, we choose to believe.

About Ghosts in the Machine

Publication date: September 20th 2016

Young genius Morag Chen doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Or not until a thousand gods show up in front of her, appearing from a clear-blue sky. The Architects are terrifying, they’re hypnotically attractive, and they’re real—but what are they, and what do they want, and why have they stolen the mind of Daniel Calder, the person she is closest to?

Ancient gods? Invading aliens? Everyone has a theory, but no one has guessed the truth. In this dark, suspenseful, mind-bending sequel to The Fire Seekers, Morag picks up the narration from Daniel as she works to accept that there’s more than one way to think about the nature of humanity. And she will find that the only way forward is through secrets that Daniel himself seems desperate but unable to convey.

A mysterious lab. The house of a dying billionaire. The hidden home of a strange and forgotten people. In each of these places, Morag and Daniel will come a step closer to answers, hope, and a way of fighting back.

About Richard Farr

I grew up in England’s West Country, one of the world’s leading producers of strange names for small villages. I now live in Seattle. When I’m not reading, writing, or staring out of the window, I enjoy running, hiking and sea kayaking.

Follow me

Ways to subscribe

Like what you see?

Star ratings

0: Couldn't finish1: Want my precious reading hours back2: Could have done without it3: It was good, but it's not an essential read4: Really liked it and glad I picked it up5: Absolutely loved it and would read again

Things I’ve said

Disclaimer

Unless otherwise stated, I do not claim ownership of any images or other media.

Dani Reviews Things is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Dani Reviews Things is also part of The Book Depository's affiliate program.